Giving Old Vacant Buildings New Life

The Problem

The 96-bed community hospital, based in a college town, was originally constructed in the early 1900s and had since been added onto with a modern acute care platform leaving the original hospital wing as a shelled three-floor building that was no longer generating revenue. The leadership was also juggling the rationalization and placement of other clinical services located off the main campus as well as the creation of a developer based medical office building on the main campus. Aside from the strategic and programmatic puzzle pieces, the original hospital building had all the characteristics of building of this era: long and narrow proportions, low floor to floor heights on upper floors, small column grid. All of which, in many cases would have pointed toward demolition and replacement. However, leadership recently invested heavily in the shelling of the building, improved building shell, as well as updated mechanical, electrical, and plumbing infrastructure.

The Approach

Catalyst’s planning team developed a strategy on how to approach the mutli-faceted challenge. First, Catalyst analyzed programs and departments that matched with the building characteristics: footprint, floor to floor height, building occupancy, etc. Catalyst then identified services within the hospital that would benefit from an easily accessible ambulatory entrance, while creating soft space within the hospital for future expansion of inpatient diagnostic and treatment services later. Finally, Catalyst identified programs that could be consolidated from other ambulatory locations within the city that would reduce the size and cost of the future adjacent MOB.

The Solution

The result was a three story, renovated ambulatory pavilion which housed registration, financial counseling, outpatient blood draw, an infusion center, outpatient endoscopy suite, physician sleep suite, chapel, Labor and Delivery waiting room and amenities, simulation lab, education suite, and hospital office space. The pavilion included operations improvement for the endoscopy suite and registration areas, and a patient tracking system.